Classes to resume Thursday at Doran School after water pipe repaired

Students and teachers at the John Doran Community School received an unexpected day off Wednesday, but should plan to return to class Thursday, after it was discovered that a pipe that runs the school’s fire service water supply from Fountain Street had cracked and sprung a leak.

Students and teachers at the John Doran Community School received an unexpected day off Wednesday, but should plan to return to class Thursday, after it was discovered that a pipe that runs the school’s fire service water supply from Fountain Street had cracked and sprung a leak.

The pipe was fixed by early Wednesday afternoon.

Doran’s building supervisor discovered the leak Tuesday afternoon, observing that water appeared to be bubbling up from the school’s sidewalk adjacent to the brick wall that separates the property from the street.

But what began as a project to excavate and remove the cracked pipe was complicated by another development on Tuesday.

As workers prepared to replace the cracked pipe “the cap blew off the shut-off valve,” explained Tim McCluskey, the district’s director of engineering and maintenance. “They had to repair the valve before they could repair the pipe.”

As McCluskey spoke Wednesday afternoon, construction workers were seen backfilling the holes on both sides of the school wall they had to dig.

Chief Operating Officer Thomas Coogan said the water main on Fountain Street that connects to the school needed to be shut off. Initially, the Department of Public Works shut off the water main on Columbia Street.

School officials decided to cancel school on Wednesday after it had become apparent that repairs would take longer than originally anticipated and the building remained without water. A notice of the cancellation was issued around 6 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Coogan said the building itself did not sustain any water damage, as water did not actually seep in. As of Wednesday afternoon, he did not have an estimate for how much the repairs would cost the school district.

Fall River public utilities administrator Terrance Sullivan said “it’s rare” that the type of pipe — ductile iron piping — that was used for the line breaks.